Be a Santa to a Senior held through Dec. 15 in York County

YORK COUNTY Residents in York County can take part in Be a Santa to a Senior, sponsored by Home Instead Senior Care, to provide gifts and companionship for lonely and isolated seniors.

“It is heartbreaking to think of the senior members of our community spending the holidays all by themselves, without any gifts or any way to celebrate the season,” says Carol Horton, owner of the Home Instead Senior Care office serving York and Chester counties. “But all too often, that’s what happens when seniors live alone. It can be a really tough time of year for them.”

Home Instead Senior Care has partnered with Catawba Area Agency on Aging and Golden Corral to help with the gift collection and distribution. Program officials hope to collect 150 gifts to help more than 70 seniors.

Golden Corral at 1031 N. Anderson Road, Rock Hill, will display a Be a Santa to a Senior Christmas tree through Dec. 15 featuring ornaments with seniors’ first names and gift requests. Shoppers can pick ornaments from the tree, buy the items listed and return them unwrapped (and with the ornament attached) to the store.

Program partners and volunteers will wrap and distribute the gifts.

For more information, call 803-817-1901 or visit BeaSantatoaSenior.com.

CBCC posts blood drives

YORK COUNTY Community Blood Center of the Carolinas will hold blood drives in December.

CHARLOTTE The Community Blood Center of the Carolinas wrapped its Pints for Pencils campaign by donating more than 6,000 school supplies to schools around the region.

For every pint of blood donated in August and September, CBCC made a contribution in school supplies. Counties received school supplies based on the number of units collected in that county during those two months.

For more information, call 704-972-4727.

Film fest winners announced

ROCK HILL In its third year, the Underexposed Film Festival yc awarded winners of the Nov. 13-15 event held at the Community Performance Center, 249 E. Main St.

Six judges from the film industry and academia selected the 29 films to be presented in the juried competition. Cash prizes totaling $1,950 were awarded. In addition to first, second, and third place and audience choice awards, best female director and best student film.

The winners are:

• Best of Show and best Student Film: “Kanyekanye,” narrative, 2012, 25:33 minutes. Country: South Africa. Director: Micklas Manneke (student film). Kanyekanye, a small township on the outskirts of Johannesburg, South Africa, where many years ago, two best friends had a childish argument about which apple is better, the red or the green. This argument leads to the great division. A big, white line was drawn through the middle of the town and everyone who believed the green apple to be better lived on the right side of town in a green house and only wore green, and vice versa. Thomas, a teenager from the green side, falls in love with Thandi, a teenager from the red side. Can the couple’s love overcome the social constraints?

• Second place: “In the Limelight,” Dog Down, documentary,| 2013, 45:45 minutes. Country: U.S. Director: John Le Blanc. Discarded, unadoptable dogs are given a chance to survive and thrive. Inmates redeem their dignity by training these dogs in basic obedience. In parallel, these men are transformed by the dogs’ unconditional love, which in turn “trains” the men to respect themselves and others.

• Third place: “Out of the Shadows,” One Armed Man, narrative, 2014, 27:04 minutes. Country: U.S. Director: Tim Guinee. C.W. Rowe has it all. He owns the cotton gin, making him the wealthiest man in Harrison, Texas, and his ascendancy has solidified an unshakable belief in the system that enriched him. Few things ever interrupt the purity of his vision, with the exception of the weekly visit of a young man, Ned, who lost an arm in the gin’s machinery. Ned is a little touched and believes C.W. can give him his arm back. On a normal day, he goes away when C.W. offers him five dollars. Today is anything but a normal day.

• Terry Roueche Audience Choice Award: “A Chess Player,” narrative, 2014, 22:45 minutes. Country: U.S. Director: Shea Sizemore. What happens when you put all of yourself into one thing and when that one thing is taken away? Who are you?

• Best Female Director: “Woman to Watch,” Diego, narrative, 2014, 15:06 minutes. Country: Germany/Mexico/U.S. Director: Sara Seligman. Diego, a 10-year old boy growing up in a family where violence is equivalent to manhood, doesn’t fit in. Every day is a challenge filled with psychological abuse as Diego is forced to prove his worth to his family. One day, he finally meets someone he can relate to, while fully realizing the consequences of his family’s actions. Diego is left with a choice: will he follow in his family’s footsteps, or will he risk his life and follow his heart?

YORK COUNTY The Upper Palmetto YMCA annual family ski trip to Aspen/Snowmass, Colo., will be Jan. 14-19.

The group will stay at the Timberline Condominiums in Snowmass. The package includes a range of rooming options for five nights; transfers to and from the airport, and from the airport to Timberline; luggage service; four-day lift ticket to Snowmass, Aspen, Aspen Highlands and Buttermilk ski areas; shuttle service from Snowmass to Aspen; and a welcome reception and slope-side picnic.